January 20, 2012 – GUATEMALA - Fuego volcano produced explosions observed on 11-13 and on 16 January, which produced ash plumes rising 400-1000 m above the crater. Shock waves and rumbling sounds accompanied the explosions and rattled windows and roofs in nearby villages. Rock avalanches traveled SW into the Ceniza drainage and on the W, S, and SW flanks. At night on 13 and 16 January incandescence was visible from the crater. –Volcano Discovery

Santa Maria Volcano activity: The lava dome growth of Santiaguito continues at moderate levels. Sporadic explosions produce ash clouds that rise up to 600-800 m above the lava dome and mostly drift SW. A viscous lava flow is active on the SE flank. Block avalanches are generated from the front of the lava flow and on the SW flank, accompanied by rumbling noises. –Volcano Discovery [link to theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com]

Updated: Friday, 20 January, 2012 at 04:10 UTC Description Turrialba volcano is acting up lately, according to the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (Ovsicori). On Wednesday, a little before 3 p.m., the volcano jettisoned water vapor, ash and gas into the air. Nearby residents reported seeing towering clouds that showered ash on several communities, according to an Ovsicori report. An Ovsicori pilot flying over the area confirmed that a cloud reaching between 14,000 and 20,000 feet in altitude emanated from the same area that saw an eruption of ash and gas on January 12. A report issued by the observatory after that eruption indicated a new fumarole formed on the southeast flank of the volcano’s crater during the eruption, but noted that the danger of a major eruption was small. The observatory report said Wednesday’s rumblings were stronger and threw more ash and gas into the atmosphere than the one on the 12th. A group of volcanologists is working near the crater of Turrialba, Ovsicori said, monitoring the activity.

Earthquake(s) in Hekla volcanoPosted on January 21, 2012 by Jón Frímann At 17:53 UTC there where two (or one) earthquake(s) in Hekla volcano. They where in the main volcano it self. The size of this earthquakes where ML06 and ML0.7, the depth was 2.5 km and 0.7 km. I am unsure what this means. But there is an slight possibly that an eruption might be under way. But at the moment no eruption has started so far. So only thing that can be done is to wait and see what happens next. All that can be done for the moment is wait and see what happens. As so far this is the only earthquake in Hekla volcano. But that can change without warning at any time. I am going to monitor this as best I can this evening. But I am going to be away part of the evening and not close to any internet connection.

During the last 24 hours Hekla has been the recipient of 3 earthquakes and four microseismical events ranging from 0M to 0.7M. The depth has ranged from 7.5km to 0.7km. The fartherest earthquake was an 0.2M yesterday that was 5km due east. The trend has been from east to the center under the volcano proper. The seismics has trended from depth and upwards. Todays quake at 0.7 is on top of the uppermost of the magma chambers of Hekla.

Due to the logarithmic scale, earthquakes at 0M is not exactly zero, so they do exist, it is just that the scale gets a bit wonky in the really low end.

There has been no rise in the tremor levels and so far no reports of increases in gas emission. There has also been no rapid GPS motion during the last 2 weeks. Currently the borehole strainmeters are offline due to a server failure. Many of these specialized plots are piped through the server that hosts the older parts of the site. The problem will hopefully be fixed in the morning.

This behaviour is not what was seen during the last eruption. In 2000 the small quakes (below 0.5M) started about 2 hours before the eruption started. This is far more outspread.

My judgement is that this is a sign of a coming eruption. But what neither I, nor anyone else can say, is when that will happen. It is though most likely not far around the bend due to Hekla being judged to be close, since quite some time, by the IMO.

Currently we have twice the uplift and magma influx compared to 2000, we have had borehole transients, and odd seismic activity. So, the signs do really lean towards an eruption being close. Problem is just that we as always are talking about anything from in 2 hours, to somewhere in the next decade or so.

So in the end we can just sum it up as Hekla being her usual and mysterious self.

For the press

What is stated above about Hekla being close to an eruption should be understod as that she is always close to an eruption. That is her nature. Hekla currently does not warrant more than a short notice at most. And please dear lord, do not write any doom and gloom story about the end of the world. At most it will be a nuisance. Same goes for Katla. [link to volcanocafe.wordpress.com]

Update 1: An second earthquake did happen in Hekla volcano system during this morning. Its size was ML0.8 with the depth of 2.2 km. Other earthquakes that have happened also have been corrected. But the size of those earthquakes where ML1.0 at 0.1 km depth and ML0.7 at 8.3 km depth. Two of this earthquakes (ML0.8 and ML0.7) where not in Hekla volcano it self. But inside Hekla volcano system at good distance from the mountain it self. [link to www.jonfr.com]

The volcano's frequent large eruptions have covered much of Iceland with tephra and these layers can be used to date eruptions of Iceland's other volcanos. 10% of the tephra created in Iceland in the last thousand years has come from Hekla, amounting to 5 km3. The volcano has produced one of the largest volumes of lava of any in the world in the last millennium, around 8 km3. [link to en.wikipedia.org]

Actually, it is as I suspected. That is straight inside the volcano. It is a stress sign that the central volcano can not take much more pressure before going off. The stress is caused by the magma inflation causing pressure that is starting to deform the mountain.

Second thing is that we should remember that it is 100 metres below the reference depth, and then we have another 1,4km of mountain ontop of that.

But, these shallow quakes are not a good sign. If they continue to have happen for a few more days in this slow and weak fashion I would say that we are just a few weeks from an eruption at most. [link to volcanocafe.wordpress.com]

Actually, it is as I suspected. That is straight inside the volcano. It is a stress sign that the central volcano can not take much more pressure before going off. The stress is caused by the magma inflation causing pressure that is starting to deform the mountain.

Second thing is that we should remember that it is 100 metres below the reference depth, and then we have another 1,4km of mountain ontop of that.

But, these shallow quakes are not a good sign. If they continue to have happen for a few more days in this slow and weak fashion I would say that we are just a few weeks from an eruption at most. [link to volcanocafe.wordpress.com]

Quoting: Luisport

the educational cleansing of the earth is just beginning from human negligence with nuclear power, waste, greed, violence and forgetting human suffering. Let it begin!

Monday 23rd January 2012 Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii A magnitude 5.0 earthquake hit Kilauea volcano on Sunday 22nd January 2012 (local time). The earthquake was shallow and had a focus depth of 8 km. The epicentre was located about 6 km south of Pu'u O'o crater. The earthquake was preceded by one minute by a magnitude 4.1 earthquake. More on Kilauea volcano... Volcanoes of Hawaii... [link to www.volcanolive.com]

USA / Hawaii / Kilauea volcano / Earthquake and Eruption A magnitude 4.7 earthquake occurred below Hawaii’s active Kilauea volcano at 16:36 local time (04:36 PM). The earthquakes were responsible for two small collapses of the West Ka‘ili‘ili lava delta that has been inactive since late December 2011. There were no other effects apparent on Kilauea’s ongoing eruptions or on Mauna Loa. USGS monitoring has not detected any important changes in activity of the volcanoes. We do not exactly know what the action was before this earthquake, but at the moment one can see constant “eruption” action at the Pu`u Oo crater. Click here for the link to this eruption webcam. The image refreshes approx. every minute.

Spain / Canary Islands / El Hierro Even with minimal harmonic tremor the surface Jacuzzi waters are stirring stronger and stronger. Take a look at the webcam and see for yourself. Click here for our in-depth report

Bolivia / Uturuncu Supervolcanoes are one of nature’s most destructive forces, but given that there are no recorded observations of super-eruptions — the last occurred 74,000 years ago in Indonesia — scientists don’t fully understand how they work. Now a team studying the world’s fastest-inflating volcano, Bolivia’s Uturuncu, is shedding some light on how supervolcanoes become so powerful. Uturuncu isn’t a supervolcano, but it sits amid one of the largest collections of supervolcano calderas on Earth. This region — along the borders of Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, known as the Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex — is pockmarked by calderas from at least eight massive super-eruptions, the youngest dating to around 1 million years ago. $$ [link to earthquake-report.com]

irpsit says: January 25, 2012 at 12:37 Some interesting updates of Icelandic volcanoes:GPS movements in Katla has becoming larger in recent weeks, despite less earthquakes [link to strokkur.raunvis.hi.is]

Crete jolted by moderate quake: An earthquake measuring 5.3 magnitude on the Richter scale jolted the islands of Crete and Cyclades in the Aegean Sea in southern Greece on Thursday, without reported casualties. According to the Geodynamic Institute of Athens, the epicentre of the quake was traced 48 km southwest of Santorini at a depth of 30 km, Greek scientists said. Local authorities have reported no injuries or major material damage. Initially the EuroMediterannean Seismic Institute had estimated a moderate tremor measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale tracing the epicentre at 78 km northwest of the city of Herakleion in Crete. The tremor was felt in a major part of the Aegean Sea, including Crete, Santorini, Cyclades, Rhodes and eastern Peloponnese. In comments in local media, Athens University Geology School Professor Efthymios Lekkas reassured that there was no reason for anxiety over the quake. Greece is regularly hit by moderate earthquakes throughout the year. The earthquake-prone country has been hit by devastating tremors many times in recent history, more than any other European country. –English CRI [link to theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com]

January 27, 2012 – ECUADOR - Since Monday 23 January 2012, there has been an intensification of Sangay volcano’s activity, as indicated by reports from pilots who reported the presence of ash from the volcano drifting S-SE. In addition, satellite images from 24 Jan show the presence of thermal anomalies at the volcano. Sangay is one of the most active volcanoes in Ecuador, in frequent activity since the 17th century when it was discovered. However, due to its very remote location, at the eastern end of the Andes cordillera, its monitoring is limited to occasional field observations and observations by aircraft and from satellite. –Volcano Discovery [link to theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com]

January 27, 2012 – MEXICO - The 5,400-metre high Popocatepeti volcano has erupted again with a plume of ash after shaking for several minutes early on Thursday. Civil protection authorities reported that the cloud drifted west before turning back eat towards Puebla City. Lying 37 miles southeast of Mexico City and its 18 million inhabitants it remains to be seen how the ash cloud will effect the megalopolis. The volcano’s activity has been reported as stable and there is no threat to populated areas. However, authorities have urged people to stay at least seven miles from the area and to await further information from Mexico’s national disaster prevention agency. The gas cloud is the largest in many years with authorities eagerly keeping watch over any potential change in activity. Popocatepetl has had more than 15 major eruptions since the arrival of the Spanish in 1519. –India TV [link to theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com]

January 27, 2012 – COSTA RICA – Costa Rica’s Turrialba volcano produced a burst of activity that shot water, vapor and ash more than 15,000 feet into the air. Nearby residents reported that ash from the blast showered several communities. The mountain’s volcano observatory said that a new fissure broke open on the southeastern flank of the crater during the eruption. Turrialba last produced an eruption in 1866, which sent ash falling as far away as Nicaragua, according to historical records. The mountain has become increasingly active since it began to rumble again in January 2001. In January 2010, it spewed ash with such force that two nearby villages, La Central and El Retiro, were evacuated briefly. –Earth Week [link to theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com]

Updated: Saturday, 28 January, 2012 at 05:21 UTC Description During our recent expedition, we visited Nyamuragira's ongoing eruption during 22-25 January, and found that the eruption is still going on strongly, but somewhat less intense than during the first 1-2 weeks in January.The second vent complex, which had started to form at the NE end of the eruptive fissure in late Dec or early Jan with about one week of constant fountaining, consists of probably 3 coalescent cones. The middle and largest of them contained a crater filled with boiling lava, i.e. a small lava lake, which was strongly spattering every few seconds. The lava lake itself was not visible, but could be inferred from the strong glow and the hissing degassing noise of exploding gas bubbles that ejected liquid spatter bombs in all directions. Some of the ejections reached up to about 200 m height and individual bombs reached the base of the cone. A large recent and still hot lava flow field from this vent extends for many kilometers to the N as far as one could see. A lava flow exits the vent area in a tube, and is visible from a row of skylines. Several small breakouts formed secondary flows, usually short-lived in various locations in the field during our visit. A large breakout, probably corresponding to the current end of the lava tube, is seen about 2 km north of the cone, feeding a large lava flow, about 20 m wide, which snakes northward until it was difficult to see details in the distance. Burning forest could be seen to the NNE. The older westerly vent complex that had been active in Nov-Dec was only degassing and there were large ring-fractures visible at the summit rim, probably caused by gravitational setting of its central parts. The area north of the eruptive fissure shows impressive surface deformation by fissures along parallel faults creating a bizarre and complex pattern of small grabens and uplifted blocks, exposing the pre-eruptive strata of scoria and lava flow layers. These correspond to surface fracturing during the initial stage of near-surface dike injection. A set of photos will be published here soon. [link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

Updated: Friday, 27 January, 2012 at 04:07 UTC Description Costa Rica’s Turrialba volcano produced a burst of activity that shot water, vapor and ash more than 15,000 feet into the air. Nearby residents reported that ash from the blast showered several communities. The mountain’s volcano observatory said that a new fissure broke open on the southeastern flank of the crater during the eruption. Turrialba last produced an eruption in 1866, which sent ash falling as far away as Nicaragua, according to historical records. The mountain has become increasingly active since it began to rumble again in January 2001. In January 2010, it spewed ash with such force that two nearby villages, La Central and El Retiro, were evacuated briefly. [link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

January 28, 2012 – JAPAN – Two moderate earthquakes struck near a dormant volcano in eastern Japan on early Saturday morning, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The quake was widely felt in the capital. A 5.0-magnitude earthquake at 7:39 a.m. local time (2239 GMT Friday) was centered about 16.7 kilometers (10.3 miles) northwest of Yamakita, a town located in the Ashigarakami District of Kanagawa Prefecture, or about 67 kilometers (41 miles) west of Tokyo. It struck at a depth of approximately 20 kilometers (12.4 miles), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). Just minutes later, at 7:43 a.m. local time (2243 GMT Friday), an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale struck the same area. The earthquakes struck close to Mount Fuji, a volcano which last erupted in 1707 but is currently considered to be at a low risk of eruption. Shaking as a result of Saturday’s earthquake could be felt across Tokyo, prompting authorities to briefly halt T&#333;kaid&#333; Shinkansen high-speed train services as a precaution. The train services resumed soon after, and there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. Japan sits on the so-called ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin which is prone to frequent and large earthquakes as well as volcanic eruptions. The University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute predicted earlier this month that the capital faces a 70 percent probability of experiencing a magnitude-7 quake within four years. On March 11, 2011, an enormous 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northeastern Japan, generating a devastating tsunami. The earthquake and resulting tsunami left at least 15,833 people killed while 3,671 others remain missing and are feared dead. –Channel 6 News [link to theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com]

Glacier flood from Grímsvatn lake on Grímsfjall volcanoPosted on January 28, 2012 by Jón Frímann It has just been announced in the news that Grímsvant glacier lake has just had an glacier flood, but this lake is in the Grímsfjall volcano caldera. This glacier flood is believed to have started yesterday around 12:00 UTC. The glacier river that the water is running into is called Gígukvísl. So far this appears to be minor flood so far. But I do not know how much water as in Grímsvatn lake when this flood did take place.

At current time it is impossible to know if an eruption is going to take place following this glacier flood from Grímsvatn lake in Grímsfjall volcano.

Description Popocatépetl volcano’s activity is increasing. On 25 Jan at 10:10 local time, an ash explosion produced a plume of 3 km height drifting NE. During the past days, strong degassing and steaming has been observed as well as periods of low-frequency tremor. At night (see webcam image), a constant glow can be seen from the summit crater, suggesting that the lava dome might have started a new phase of growth. Authorities recommend a safety distance from the volcano of 12 km radius, and the alert level remains at “yellow”. Now India TV News’ report of the recent eruption of Mexico’s Popocatépetl Volcano.